Aspire One Cracked Screen -- My Story

In December, my wife and I got matching Acer Aspire Ones. Mine blue. Hers white. We both loved the small size and portability of the computer. As a part time writer, my plan was to take the Acer Aspire One with me when I went places so that I could write without toting our much bigger laptop with me. The Acer Aspire One has been advertised as the ultra portable, and was portrayed in Wal-Mart as the perfect kids computer. So much so that after we bought ours, my 7 year old daughter started saving her pennies for one of her own.

In the brief time I owned it, I transported the Acer Aspire One with much care. I cushioned it when carrying it in my backpack and made sure that I held it with both hands or securely against my body when carrying it around the house. With its smaller size, it was easier to hold, but it was also more likely to fall off a lap or desk if jostled. So I made certain to take care.

The only place that I transported the computer was to work. I like to write during my free time, and I don't want to use the company provided laptop for that purpose. So I transported the Acer Aspire One cushioned in the backpack, taking care to set it down gently, and to store it safely.

Imagine my horror when, after only a couple of months of ownership, I saw the screen looking like the pictures shown. The Acer Aspire One's LCD appeared to be cracked like a dogeared page at the bottom left. I couldn't understand how my Acer Aspire One's screen could be broken. It was working earlier that day. It had not been dropped, shoved, stepped on, and had not left my sight since I last had it operating.

So I called Acer. After a brief conversation, I was told that it sounded like I had damaged my screen somehow. I said that I had done nothing to the PC and it was working fine earlier. The man on the other end said that a cracked screen was a sign of mishandling and would not be covered under my warranty. I asked about extended warranties, mentioning I'd looked into one for the Aspire One and found Acer offered none when I purchased it. He looked into it and seemed surprised that there wasn't one for it. I asked him how much it would cost to replace the broken screen on my Acer Aspire One and he advised me that it would be $200.

Honestly, the whole thing made me sick. I finally sent it back last week to have it looked at. I had had the Acer Aspire One less than two months before the thing cracked under what I consider far less severe conditions than normal use. And I'm guessing that Acer is going to come back and tell me that the repair is my fault. The question is, how does anyone prove that a broken screen is NOT their fault?

I have had five laptops that I have been the primary user of prior to the Acer Aspire One. One of those had a plastic hinge break two years into its use, but still worked well until the hard drive failed two years after that. Another work computer had a catastrophic hard drive failure three years into service. I also have seen dozens of laptops among my coworkers. In all of my time I have NEVER seen a cracked screen appear on any of these, and all of them receive far more use and abuse than my Acer Aspire One saw in its brief life.

I have seen numerous postings on the web from people who have had their Acer Aspire One screens crack. Some point to a damaging incident, others are puzzled like me. Given the fact that Acer is pushing the Aspire One's portability and usage as a kid's computer, these reports trouble me.

In examining my Acer Aspire One after the screen broke, I noticed that the PC has what may be a fatal flaw in its design. The two hinges on either side of the screen create a gap in the closure between the bottom of the screen and the top of the keyboard. Because the two halves don't fit flat and the plastics used are not extremely rigid, the entire space between these hinges becomes a stress point. Think of suspending a 8 or 9 inch piece of glass the thickness of a microscope slide between two bricks (the hinges) and what would happen if even a little pressure was applied in between the bricks. CRACK! A laptop closed flat should NOT have any sort of pressure points or vulnerability on the screen. I'm not saying this is what happened with mine, but it is the only theory I can come up with. Given the fact that this PC is likely to be held closed in a hand and transported, it isn't hard to see that there is the potential for many Acer Aspire One failures. (And note, I noticed this same gap in my wife's Acer Aspire One. It is still working, but we're afraid to take it anywhere and suffering the same loss).

I will be updating this blog to let you know how my Acer Aspire One's repair story is going. If Acer refuses to replace the screen under warranty, I plan to take the fight to get it fixed as high as possible.

If you have trouble with your Acer Aspire One, let me know in a comment.